Fake Pokemon Yellow app hits iTunes, promptly rockets up the charts

A newly-launched iOS app claiming to offer an iPhone version of Pokemon Yellow for 99 cents (via Kotaku) isn't affiliated in any discernible way with Nintendo or Game Freak. From the comments on the App Store's bank of 1-star reviews, it's clear the app doesn't even work: “This is a scam. Crashes after main screen.” Not that that's stopped the fake app from rising up Apple's Paid Apps charts around the world.

Above: If you were going to fake an unlicensed Pokemon game, you'd think you could at least fake something a bit newer

One-star ratings and disgruntled reviews grace the app's pages on various international storefronts – but the game's support page offers little assistance, manned as it is by neither Nintendo nor Game Freak but someone called Qeab. But you don't have to go that far for signs of the app's dubiousness. The iTunes Store credits the app to an outfit named Home of Anime, which in the same week released similarly dodgy-looking apps based on Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh (properties of Bandai and Konami respectively).

At time of writing, the Pokemon app's in the top 10 Paid App charts for Australia, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and New Zealand, all of whose stores display numerous 1-star ratings and comments demanding a refund for the non-working app. Qeab's page says the company's “working on a new build and we anticipate this will be completed soon, which should overcome the issue.” It doesn't mention the company's plans should Nintendo (who last year said it had no plans to support iOS) get wind of the app...